Mariners’ Lee Dae-ho belts 8th homer in 1st three-hit game

SEOUL, (Yonhap) — Lee Dae-ho of the Seattle Mariners has belted his eighth home run of the season as part of his first three-hit game.

Lee went deep off the bench for a three-run shot to cap off the M’s five-run sixth inning against the San Diego Padres on the road Thursday (local time). Lee’s long ball cut the Mariners’ deficit to 12-7.

Lee pinch-hit for first baseman Adam Lind and stayed in the game to take over the bag. The two players have been splitting first base duties all season, with Lind, who bats left-handed, getting the bulk of action against right-handers.

Lee has eight home runs in 83 at-bats, while Lind has six in 137 at-bats.

With left-hander Brad Hand pitching for the Padres in the sixth, Lee drilled a 2-2 curveball over the left field wall to keep the Mariners’ rally going. It was Lee’s second pinch-hit home run of his first big league season, and he became the first Mariners rookie ever to hit two home runs off the bench in a season.

Then with the Mariners down 12-9 in the seventh, Lee picked up his fourth RBI of the day with a single. The Mariners scored nine runs in that inning to take a 16-12 lead.

Lee hit another single in the eighth to complete his three-hit game, his first of the season, and to raise his batting average to .301.

Lee was one of two Seattle hitters with at least three hits, joined by third baseman Kyle Seager (3-for-5 and five RBIs).

The Mariners hung on to win 16-13, despite being outhit by 20-16. The Padres threw seven pitchers at the Mariners, while the M’s needed six pitchers to survive the wild one.

Elsewhere in the American League, Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins broke out of his recent slump with his first career three-hit game.

Park went 3-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored, as the Twins defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 at Target Field in Minneapolis to snap their three-game losing streak.

Batting sixth as the designated hitter, Park reached safely in all four plate appearances and two of his three hits were doubles.

His batting average went up from .211 to .226. He entered the game having batted just .130 (3-for-23) over his past seven games.

The slugger remains stuck at nine home runs on the season. He hasn’t gone deep since hitting two long balls on May 13.

He doubled off Tampa Bay starter Matt Moore in the bottom first and drew a walk in the bottom fourth.

In the fifth, Park got another hit off Moore, this time a two-out single. In the bottom seventh, Park hit his second double of the day, with Xavier Cedeno on the mound, and came home to score on Max Kepler’s single that made it 6-4 Twins.